Hey Y’all,

The first week of  NaNoWriMo is over and let’s just say my progress has not been great. I’ve been working hard to finish this creative nonfiction piece called “Salvage” while battling an upper respiratory infection.

However, I have worked on my novel. I’ve added maybe 50 words to it. Yikes! Even calling it a “novel” is daunting for me. Makes it feel so massive and unwieldy. I feel like getting my mind around it and developing each scene into the full and robust images in my head is damn near impossible.

Okay so now we’ve got that little freak out out-of-the-way, it’s time to get down to business. In truth, I am not as concerned about hitting 50,000 words this month as  I am with developing better, more productive writing habits and learning to use writing tools like Dragon and Scriveners.

By far the most important thing for me is to develop and maintain a writing schedule. I don’t have a dedicated writing time: I squeeze it in between work and other “important things” I have to do.  That needs to change.

So I will get up an hour earlier ( then two) to write in the mornings before I do anything else, except make a cup of tea of course.

As I said finishing Salvage is the top priority, but I will make more progress on the novel.  It’s really time for it to take center stage anyway.

Eryka